Stability of Patient Values in the Face of Invasive Therapies for Life-threatening Illness: Insights from the DECIDE-LVAD Trial

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. S475-S476
Author(s):  
L.A. Allen ◽  
C.E. Knoepke ◽  
E.C. Leister ◽  
J.S. Thompson ◽  
C.K. McIlvennan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Patient Values

Children’s views of death

2021 ◽  
pp. 66-74
Author(s):  
Myra Bluebond-Langner ◽  
Ignasi Clemente
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Face ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Children’S Views

Death is very much a part of the everyday thoughts of children. It is part of the games they play, the stories they hear, and the videos they watch. Sadly, for some children it is also part of their everyday lives—their lived experience in the face of a life-threatening illness, war, violence, or natural disaster. In this chapter we explore well and ill children’s views of death demonstrating how children’s views of death, like those of adults, are multi-dimensional and encompass not only the physical, but also the metaphysical, social, and emotional aspects. Attention is given to how children express their awareness and understanding of death and the implications for engaging children in discussions of death and dying.

Palliative medicine: Historical record and challenges that remain

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Clark
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Palliative Medicine ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Global Coverage

With its growing recognition by the early decades of the twentieth century, palliative medicine was moving from the margins to a more central place within medicine. Much had been achieved and there was growing evidence of palliative care’s successes around the world. At the same time, there were ongoing concerns about the quality of the evidence base to support its practices. There were questions about the relationship between palliative care and end-of-life care. There was also the challenge of delivering good care to all who might need it in the face of serious and life-threatening illness in an era of population growth and ageing. There seemed to be many ways to conceptualize and deliver palliative care. Would this lead to global coverage and spread, and what would be the particular role of palliative medicine within the process? This chapter concludes with reflections on progress to date and challenges for the future.

Psychological Death: An Adaptive Response to Life-Threatening Illness

1972 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barton ◽  
Joseph H. Fishbein ◽  
Frank W. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Disease Process ◽  
Psychiatric Ward ◽  
Optimal Care ◽  
Interpersonal Contact ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
The Face ◽  
Life Threatening

A 50-year-old man with documented multiple myeloma of two years duration was admitted to a psychiatric ward with the complaint of “being dead.” Discussion of the development of his complaints illustrates important issues, an understanding of which may be helpful in providing optimal care of any patient with a life-threatening illness. “Being dead” had significant individual symbolic meanings which developed from the patient's past and current conflicts and from his perceptions of changes in his body image resulting from the disease process. “Being dead” furthermore was a statement of the reflected appraisal of environmental neglect and in this context was closely related to “voodoo death.” Psychological “self-destruction” through “being dead” served to communicate anger and evoke guilt in the interpersonal environment while at the same time adaptively evoking reassurance, increased interpersonal contact, concern and amelioration of loneliness and alienation. Psychological “death” and “rebirth” also represented a quest for immortality; and complaints, through their potential to evoke humor, seemed an ironic mockery of death. In the context of a life-threatening illness, recognition and appreciation of many psychological phenomena as adaptive are necessary in order to aid both the patient and the care-giving environment to achieve a reasonable level of adaptation in the face of death.

Review of Adapting to Life-Threatening Illness.

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 906-906
Author(s):  
No authorship indicated
Keyword(s):  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Life Threatening

Life-threatening Illness as Precursor to Posttraumatic Growth

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence G. Calhoun ◽  
◽  
Jay Azarow ◽  
Tzipi Weiss ◽  
Joel Millam
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Growth ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Life Threatening

Sophistry and Circumstance at the End of Life

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Philip Berry
Keyword(s):  
Liver Failure ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Loss Of Consciousness ◽  
Supportive Treatment ◽  
Medical Decisions ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Counselling Process

When life-threatening illness robs a patient of the ability to express their desires, medical personnel must work through the issues of management and prognosis with relatives. Management decisions are guided by medical judgement and the relatives’ account of the patient’s wishes, but difficulties occur when distance grows between these two factors. In these circumstances the counselling process may turn into a doctor-led justification of the medical decision. This article presents two strands of dialogue, in which a doctor, counselling for and against continuation of supportive treatment in two patients with liver failure, demonstrates selectivity and inconsistency in constructing an argument. The specific issues of loss of consciousness (with obscuration of personal identity), statistical ‘futility’ and removal of autonomy are explored and used to bolster diametrically opposed medical decisions. By examining the doctor’s ability to interpret these issues according to circumstance, the author demonstrates how it is possible to shade medical facts depending on the desired outcome.

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